Grand Canyon Milky Way
Grand Canyon Milky Way
Pairs of eyes stared back at me as I made my way through the forest at 3AM. Three elk dashed away along the unmarked path to Shoshoni Point. This was the one Grand Canyon overlook I could find with a view to the southeast. The south rim is not the ideal place to photograph the milky way because it's located in the southern sky while most of the viewpoints look north. Once I got to the edge the galaxy was shining brilliantly above, but below it was a black abyss. Neither my eyes or my camera could see any detail in the canyon, it was just too dark. But after shooting the milky way I left my camera in position and waited for morning twilight to brighten the sky. This helped to fill in the shadows and I combined the images later. The majority of the canyon is out of the frame to the left. Someday I'll have to return to the north rim for a better view when it's not closed. Three planets are visible in this image if you know where to look.
- Copyright
- Kevin Palmer
- Image Size
- 5965x3977 / 13.6MB
- Keywords
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2018, April, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Shoshoni Point, Southwest, United States, clear, cliff, dark, desert, early, galaxy, jupiter, kevin palmer, milky way, morning, national park, night, nikon d750, pine trees, planet, rokinon 14mm f2.8, scenic, sky, spring, starry, stars, stitch, view, space, astronomy, astrophotography